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Meredith Heil shows Southern pride in “Whistlin’ Dixie”

From a very early age, Meredith Heil has known she was different. Growing up in a liberal household was great and all, but when that household is in the middle of very conservative suburbs with little to no diversity, it can make the world a very lonely place (as I’m sure many of us have experienced). Music became an outlet that boasted of better places, of raging against the machine and female superheroes whose weapon of choice was a microphone.

As she matured and had the opportunity to finally move to the promised lands of visibility (New York) and harmony (San Francisco), Heil realized that sometimes not everything is as good as it sounds on a cassette tape. With that lesson came another one: The South can actually be a very welcoming place for queers and the artistic community. Many bands she’s been introduced to in the past few years have hailed from the southern states and are not only from there, but deeply loyal residents who don’t want to leave.

From all of this, the documentary Whistlin’ Dixie: The Queer Southern Music Project was born. We had the chance to speak with Meredith to find out how all of this started and where you’ll be able to catch it screening at an unconventional showcase near you.

AfterEllen.com: In your old home movies it looks like music has always been a part of your life, from the time when you were just a wee tiny lez. I know you moved around a lot, can you give me a little background on where you grew up?

Meredith Heil: I grew up mostly in Missouri and Texas in kind of a suburban environment where there wasn’t much diversity and I always felt kind of different. Since I was pretty young, I always found music to be my best friend, I guess, to keep me from being too lonely. Then when I was older and figuring out who I was — coming out when I was about 14, I found out about Riot Grrl and that totally radicalized me and politicized me and helped me figure out who I was. I connected to other people who were fans and becoming friends; exchanging mix tapes from there and really changed my life. It’s always played a big role, even in my every day life just figuring out about everything.

AE: Wow you were very aware of being queer from a very young age, it must’ve been very difficult not only living in Texas and Missouri but also moving around a lot. Did you feel like it made it harder to be yourself since you had to pick up and meet new people again and again or at some point did you just say, “Eff this — I’ll be moving again I might as well just be myself”?

MH: Yeah, it definitely made me pretty adaptable. My mom grew up as a military brat so she was pretty used to just picking up and leaving. It’s not that we moved around all the time but the moves were pretty drastic. I think that I always kind of felt like I fit in in those kind of white-washed suburban climates that I was being raised in but my family is really supportive.

Coming out wasn’t a big issue as much as me articulating it was. As soon as I was 14 and making those statements and learning more about myself is when I took it upon myself to find places to feel more comfortable. I ended up going to a great boarding school in Vermont that was really supportive and open and put myself in different situations at like summer camp that was less isolating. But, it was definitely difficult to feel like I was the only queer person living in these small towns. And then listening to this music I felt like I had to pick up and move to San Francisco or New York or Seattle just to have community.

AE: You mention in the movie trailer that you got a mixtape that changed your life. Do you remember what was on the playlist?

MH: Yeah! It was in summer camp and it was before ninth grade. And I’m 25 now so some of the bands on the tape weren’t around anymore or had broken up so it wasn’t like I could go to shows, unfortunately. I don’t still have it but it had some Sleater Kinney, Bikini Kill, L7 — basically a great intro to Riot Grrrl mixtape from an older girl I had a huge crush on.

AE: There’s always one of those.

MH: Yeah, to this day, I’m sure.

AE: For me, I think what makes the movie so interesting is that you highlight some of my favorite bands from forever and yet as a music-lover, I’ve always concentrated on the fact that they were queer and punk and just speaking their minds and throwing their middle finger to the man but I never thought about the fact that some of them were from the South or living in the South where making their statement was that much more brave to state openly. What made you put these dots together that these Southerners were making kick-ass queer music.

MH: Even though I moved around a lot, my mom has always been a staunch liberal Democrat. So even though we were living in places that were really conservative, she always had a lot of hate for the red state thing and was always very politically active in that way. But even though she was always talking trash about the South or the Midwest that weren’t that liberal, I always kind of felt like there must be more to the story.

I was always interested in the South and Southern literature when I was growing up and in high school and had travelled a little down there and it was just beautiful. The people were kind and I felt like the South just gets a lot of grief and it’s easy for people who live in the blue states to throw all the bigotry and racism that exists in the US just to pin it all on the south to make them feel better about themselves.

But in my own experience I’ve dealt with a lot more s–t for being queer in places like California and New York. I couldn’t really see how it was matching up with these ideas that I wouldn’t fit in in the South “because it’s not safe for me,” but San Francisco and New York were automatically safe. So when I found out about some of these artists when I was older and moving around and living in San Francisco and New York and wasn’t really finding the kind of community I was expecting from listening to Riot Grrl and watching queer movies, and really just wanting to get to the big city, I was kind of missing the small town and found out about these artists, like Midtown Dickens and Humble Tripe I was like, “These people are from North Carolina? I thought that was a place I wasn’t supposed to go!” And not only were they there, they’re being loud and visible and I was so impressed with this. So I found out about more bands doing the same thing and when I talked to them I realizing their commitment to staying there and making a difference in their communities was really inspiring to me.

Especially now like with the “It Gets Better” campaign. I’ve seen videos from the city of San Francisco and I’ve seen all these testimonials where people are like, “I grew up in Iowa and it was hell for me but it gets better because now I’ve moved to San Francisco,” and I want to challenge that narrative because it doesn’t always work for everyone.

And in doing a little more research, the South has always had a really rich and visible and strong music history especially in terms to how that music is tied to history, like grassroots struggles whether it be gospel or blues there’s always been music tied to people trying to rise up and organize. So I was pretty inspired by that.

AE: It blows my mind still that people — even for myself, I’ve lived in Chicago my whole life but Chicago is just one part of Illinois and there’s still the rest of the state you have to worry about and there’s still a ton of bigotry, even in the city. So to shed light on these towns in places that are assumed to be completely homophobic is a breath of fresh air.

MH: Yeah that was definitely my intent — to maybe open people’s eyes to a part of the country they think they don’t often think about or think they have anything in common with or can relate to.

AE: Right, and it’s also kind of saying, in effect, a more comfortable, more accepting place for you might be closer than you think.

MH: Yeah and that’s a big part of my interest in part of the lo-fi kind of D.I.Y. music scene in that it kind of breaks down that fourth wall and fans can kind of just pick up an instrument and become musicians. It’s a sense of community in that scene or that movement that I haven’t seen in the mainstream music world. It’s not about competition or making money with a record deal, it’s about helping your friends start their own record company. I thought that was really inspiring but also really telling of the commitment of these people staying there and fostering growth in towns some people might not consider when they’re coming out and moving out of their parent’s house looking for a place to move.

AE: Is filmmaking part of your background?

MH: Yeah, actually I just finished my Master’s program in documentary studies at the University of Santa Cruz in California. So I did experimental film in college and I did this film as part of my Master’s. This is my thesis film.

AE: Oh wow, well, congratulations! When you booked the interviews with the bands that you featured and told them what the film was about, what were their reactions?

MH: Oh they were stoked! They were so enthusiastic and gracious and excited than I ever thought they would be. As a documentary filmmaker, you always try to make sure you cover your bases and get get your footage without pissing off your subject. You’re always ready for them to say, “Get out of my face — I don’t want to do this anymore,” and I went in with that trepidation. But then, even after talking to just two people, they were just like, “This is amazing! This great visibility for us, great visibility for the South. You should talk to my friend who plays in this band. And you should talk to this person in this other band,” and it was through those connections that I got all these interviews. I mean like Melissa York and Amy Ray were always idols of mine growing up. Everybody was just so amazing and willing to help out. Southern hospitality is no joke — I’ve never experienced such kindness.

AE: I’ve seen a lot of things put on the Kickstarter website, which is a great idea. You were able to surpass your fundraising goals, but was there ever a worry that your project wouldn’t get funded?

MH: I was worried of course because I had never done a Kickstarter campaign before. As soon as I launched, within a couple of days we were already halfway there so I was really stoked. I’ve been doing some promotional stuff for about a year and a half trying to get people interested with the website and Facebook page. Indiewire did a spot on it, so I’ve kind of had a lot of publicity. A lot of friends actually donated who I wasn’t expecting to, which was really really nice. And strangers donated. I just couldn’t believe it.

AE: What were some of the stories that moved you the most while making this?

MH: Heather McEntire is the tour de force down there. She’s in three different bands that are all equally amazing and she also heads up a record label and it was such an honor to talk to her. I’ve had a crush on her for like five years so I was super nervous but it was great. I didn’t know much about her background but I found out she grew up in a South Baptist Church and a really really strictly Christian household in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. And to hear about her talk about how her parents worked for Billy Graham, with not contempt in her voice necessarily, but with a lot of knowledge — and really talk about how that influences her music, especially with Mount Moriah, her newest project. She had this very calm way of saying, “This is what I took from growing up in such a religious household, I took the music and not the message”. And I thought that was a really interesting perspective on how growing up in, what we consider, the traditional South, influences someone who is on the forefront of queer art right now.

AE: There’s a screening tour coming up?

MH: Yep, I’m going on a cross-country screening tour around the US. I’m booking shows in a different way than most documentary filmmakers or filmmakers in general I guess. I’m not as interested in big film festivals. I’m kind of leery of the whole, “You pay me $200 to watch my film” thing. It’s not the kind of scene I want to be participating in. So I’ve been focused on booking screenings kind of like booking bands. So turning it into more of a musical event than just a film event. So if you go to a screening it will probably be held in a bar or a house party and we’ll have a projector set up and maybe a sheet to play it on. We’ll have a couple of bands to play, local bands and touring bands depending on where the show is. I’m really excited about this format. Basically I really wanted to participate in the scene and in the community instead of just documenting it.

AE: Well, in a way, it sounds like you’re kind of bringing the South with you everywhere you go. Do you have the dates of everywhere you’ll be lined up and accessible?

MH: Yeah, at QueerSouth.com there’s a tab there for the D.I.Y. screening tour. People can also contact me and let me know if they’d like to come play and share the stage. A lot of these places I’ve never been to so I’m excited to show in as many places as possible. There’s also a call-out for dates you can find on my Facebook page.

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